Porsche Perfection Continues at Long Beach

It’s hard to determine when the phrase “Penske Perfect” was coined; it likely dates to Penske Racing’s earliest days in sports car racing with driver Mark Donohue in the 1960s.

But Roger Penske has rarely seen as perfect a start to a racing season as drivers Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy and the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 have achieved in the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

On Saturday, Tandy and Nasr won the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach to remain undefeated in IMSA Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class competition this year. The Long Beach win was their third consecutive, adding to triumphs at the Rolex 24 At Daytona and the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, where they were assisted by Michelin Endurance Cup co-driver Laurens Vanthoor.

Vanthoor is also three-for-three in 2025 WeatherTech Championship competition, but his victory at Long Beach came in the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class with Jonny Edgar in AO Racing’s No. 177 “Rexy” Porsche 911 GT3 R.

The GTP race at Long Beach was fairly straightforward for Tandy and Nasr. Tandy maintained third place for the first short stint behind the BMW M Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8s, with Dries Vanthoor in the Motul Pole Award-winning No. 24 car holding the point over Sheldon van der Linde in the No. 25 car.

A full-course caution for a stalled GTD competitor just 21 minutes into the 100-minute sprint race allowed the GTP competitors to execute pit stops and driver changes. After the stops, Nasr in the No. 7 Porsche led Matt Campbell in the No. 6 Porsche he took over from Mathieu Jaminet.

The Porsches controlled the race from there, but Nasr and Tandy admitted they each experienced a couple tricky moments and had to be careful with their energy management to complete the race without an additional stop for replenishment. Nasr and the No. 7 finished 3.058 seconds ahead of Campbell in the No. 6 at the checkered flag, with Phillipp Eng completing the race third in the pole-winning No. 24 BMW, 12.903 seconds back.

Nasr has won 14 times in just 64 starts in IMSA competition, while Tandy notched his 26th career IMSA race win. Nasr and Tandy hold a 123-point lead over Campbell and Jaminet in the GTP driver’s point standings, with Eng and Dries Vanthoor now third, 265 points in arrears.

“Another big day for the team,” summarized Nasr, who won the 2024 GTP championship in the No. 7 Porsche with Dane Cameron as his co-driver. “The execution that Porsche Penske Motorsport has been able to show in these past three events has been outstanding. For us drivers, it’s a unique feeling really to see everything coming together. They gave us a fast car and the execution was perfect all race long. That was the only way we could fight these BMWs.”

Nasr credited Tandy with saving energy in the early stages of the race. That, along with the decision to not change tires, was how the No. 7 jumped the BMWs. It marks the third straight year the Long Beach GTP winning entry didn’t take tires.

“We knew it was going to come down to the strategy and the pit stop and whether could do something different,” said Nasr. “That’s exactly what we did. We were, let’s say, more aggressive with the approach because didn’t change tires on the No. 7, and managing that was key as well. I’ve got to say the car was really quick when it had to be. 

“I haven’t had a season in my career that started with three wins like this,” he added. “Amazing to win a race here with such a great crowd at the 50th anniversary of the Long Beach Grand Prix.”

Tandy added his own perspective on PPM’s third consecutive victory and second straight 1-2 finish. The last time a team opened an IMSA season with three straight overall wins was 2017, when Ricky and Jordan Taylor accomplished the feat in a Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac.

“It goes to show just what a high level this team is operating at the moment,” Tandy said. “We’re lucky enough to be in front three times, but if the No. 7 isn’t at the front, the No. 6 is and vice-versa. We’ve always got two bullets in the gun, and both sides of the garage are operating just flawlessly. The car has proved reliable, and that’s a key point, and the pace today was awesome.”

BMW placed two cars in the top five, with the No. 25 entry taking fifth place behind Jack Aitken and Earl Bamber in the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R.

The Aston Martin THOR Team achieved its best result to date, as Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis drove the screaming No. 23 Aston Martin Valkyrie to an eighth-place finish. Acura, the title sponsor of the Long Beach Grand Prix weekend, endured a tough day with the two Acura Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06 entries finishing ninth and 11th.

Results are HERE